Krakow, Free City: Information

The Free, Independent, and Strictly Neutral City of Krakow (historic English spelling: Cracow) with its Territory (Polish: Wolne, Niepodległe i Ściśle Neutralne Miasto Kraków z Okręgiem), more commonly known as either the Free City of Cracow or Republic of Cracow (Polish: Rzeczpospolita Krakowska, German: Republik Krakau), was a city republic created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815, which included the city of Kraków and its surrounding areas.

It was jointly controlled by its three neighbours (Russia, Prussia, and Austria), and was a centre of agitation for an independent Poland. In 1846, in the aftermath of the unsuccessful Kraków Uprising, the Free City of Cracow was annexed by the Austrian Empire. It was a remnant of the Duchy of Warsaw, which was partitioned between the three states in 1815.

The Free City of Cracow was an overwhelmingly Polish-speaking city-state; of its population 85% were Catholics, 14% were Jews while other religions comprised less than 1%. The city of Kraków itself had a Jewish population reaching nearly 40%, while the rest were almost exclusively Polish-speaking Catholics.